


The Wind Carries Daffodils

by FuneralCake



Series: Till The Last Petals Fall [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Acceptance, Angst, Character Death, F/M, Hanahaki Disease, Kekkei Genkai | Bloodline Limit, M/M, One-Sided Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, One-Sided Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto, Post-War, Uchiha Sasuke-centric, Unrequited Love, author doesn't like nice things, but not really, it's a mess, they grow up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:01:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24390985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FuneralCake/pseuds/FuneralCake
Summary: The Uchiha loved with all their being. The curse just made it all the more apparent.When Sasuke coughs up the very first petals, he is unsurprised. He has been warned off of love for this very reason, and knows exactly what each and every petal means.He would not regret all the blossoms, all the words that comes to pass his lips.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Hatake Kakashi/Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Itachi/Uchiha Shisui (mentioned), Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Series: Till The Last Petals Fall [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1761220
Comments: 20
Kudos: 255
Collections: Best Across Fandoms





	The Wind Carries Daffodils

_Red Carnations_

Sasuke is absently aware of the horror in Sakura's eyes. Of the confusion in Naruto's. Of the panic in Kakashi. He doesn't pay attention to them, of course. Not because he doesn't want to, but because he can't. He is doubled over, hacking up crimson petals that dance with the wind. He wonders if this is his penance.

He has seen this happen before. Has read the clan texts around it. He knows flowers as well as any Yamanaka. Every Uchiha does though they don't talk about it. He starts the way any of their clan does. With crimson petals declaring their love for the world to see, because they cannot.

Some say they were cursed by the Senju with this. Some say it was a warning, to Uchiha about loving and loving too much. Whatever it may be, Sasuke knows the only cure at this point. He would either have to be loved, or kill the person he loves.

He has already spent his entire life trying to kill the idiot. It isn't an option at this point. Not even if he wants to, which he really doesn't. Sasuke will just have to wait and see, and hope for the best.

When the coughing fit stops, he feels Sakura's hands on his back. He feels foreign chakra and knows she must be scanning him. His other teammates are hovering, and he fights the instinctive urge to flee.

"What's going on teme?!" There's terror in the those bright blue eyes and he pushes down the guilt of having put it there. He wonders how the dobe would feel when he gets to the stage where he starts coughing up blood. "Why were you coughing up flowers, dattebayo?"

"They're carnations," Sasuke corrects instinctively, and the idiot glares like he thinks it doesn't matter. Except it does, because he knows these flowers. Knows they declare his love. "And, it's... a clan matter."

"I've never heard of the Uchiha coughing up flowers," Kakashi speaks up. His book is nowhere in sight now, lone eye sharp and focused.

"It's something we keep under wraps," Sasuke said. "Not that I would need to now." He adds it as an afterthought, especially considering who his curse has mandated as 'the one' for him.

"There's weird chakra around your lungs. Kind of like nature chakra or mokuton," Sakura finally said, the green chakra form her hands slowly dispersing.

"Tsunade should know what that is," Sasuke said. "There's nothing to be done about it. It would either resolve itself, or it wont." The three startle, looking at him with wide eyes at the finality of his statement.

"I should probably report it to the hokage though."

\-------------------

_Yellow Tulips_

Sasuke had planned to leave the village. To go back to wandering and see where the wind takes him, but he decides to stay in konoha instead. He has no desire to drop dead in a ditch somewhere without anyone knowing. Naruto would probably spend the rest of his life looking for him when that happened and he doesn't know which is worse. The dobe spending the rest of his life searching for someone who will never come back, or him finding Sasuke and bringing him home in a scroll.

Tsunade looks at him with something like pity and it makes him bristle and glare. He has yet to tell the rest of his team, who had pilled into the hokage's office with him, when he came to give the report. They will probably want answers soon, but he isn't sure if he should. He doesn't need the drama it would bring them.

He feels detached, for all that he's the one who gave the report, as Sakura gives the results of her scans and Naruto pesters the kage for details. He looks so alive in a way Sasuke is not. Where Sasuke is all quiet brooding and calm resignation, the jinchuriki's every moment is energy given form with flailing limbs and exaggerated movement.

He puts his all with every movement. Where Sasuke's anger is world shattering, his smile is the fire and light for all of mankind to bask in. The brilliant sun. 

He barely pulls back the urge to smile, when he feels another hacking cough. He isn't at all surprised at the smooth sunshine yellow petals that pour out of his mouth. There are more petals this time. A good few handfuls and he shakes with effort to expell them out of his lungs.

When the coughing dies and he can focus again, he sees Tsunade by his side with green hands and his worried team all around him. "Yellow Tulips," he manages to croak out. 'The sun shines in your smile,' he thinks to himself. How fitting.

"You should explain what's going on to your team, Uchiha," Tsunade said when the coughing has stopped. "So they're prepared for every eventuality." Which, Sasuke gets. It's fair, but it isn't easy. No matter what happens, it would change the dynamics of their team. 

"Fine," he rasps out, accepting the canteen of water his pink haired teammate hands him. He looks expectantly at the slug sage, who sighs but agrees to his unasked request and starts explaining for him.

"No one actually knows how it started, but the Uchiha clan has had this for as long as recorded history," Tsunade finally said. "They call it Hanahaki. The Hanahaki curse, or the Hanahaki disease. It sounds stupid from a medical stand point, but it has been proven over and over again."

"What does it do, baa-chan?" Naruto asked and Sasuke feels worse at the genuine worry he hears there.

"It starts when an Uchiha falls in love." All three stare at her like she's grown two heads, before they give Sasuke the same wide eyed look. He can feel his cheeks heating up, but he says nothing and ignores the impulse to avoid eye contact. He has faced a goddess, once upon a time. He can face his teammates.

"They start coughing up flowers that symbolize what they feel. It starts with just a few petals, but as it gets worse, the flowers grown larger and more numerous. Eventually they start coughing up blood and it gets harder to breath. If their love is unrequited, the flowers would keep growing, until it chokes their lungs eventually, and grow from their bodies," Tsunade said.

His teammates yell in alarm, but he pays no attention to it. He has known this all his life.

"What if he learns to move on from his feelings?" Sakura asked quietly.

"That's not how Uchiha work," Sasuke finally speaks up. "The Hanahaki disease just, makes it all the more obvious but, when people from our clan love, that's it for us. You've seen how Obito destroyed the world, just because he lost the one person he loved, haven't you?"

"And why didn't Obito die of Hanahaki then? I knew Rin didn't quite... return his feelings," Kakashi asked. There's weariness in his tone and Sasuke wonders if he has crossed the line when he mentioned their teacher's dead teammate. He's asking clarifications though, instead of running away or avoiding so perhaps not.

"There are two ways to cure this. One is to confess and be loved back," Sasuke said. "The other, is to lose the person you love. By your hand or otherwise."

"Who is it, teme?" Naruto finally asked and it makes Sasuke huff a laugh.

"You know, my brother achieved both ways to cure the disease," Sasuke huffs another laugh, more bitter and jaded. "He probably was the only one. He had loved Shisui. And later he found out that he loved Itachi too. Only to kill himself by Itachi's hands, in the very same breath." He remembers Itachi's memories. Of Itachi coughing up Jonquils for the last time, that withered as the wind carried it while Shisui bled out in his arms.

\--------------------

_Arbutus_

"I guess, this is where I give up, huh?" Sakura is sitting on the very same bench he has left her all those years ago. The same bench he will be leaving her in now, it would seem. It's the middle of the night, just the two of them and he does what he should have done all those years ago. He sits down, and joins her on the bench instead.

"I'm sorry," he offers sincerely. He wonders if in a different life, one where he was less angry with the world and she was less in love with the idea of love, he might have ended up with her. There is a possibility, but he doubts it. He is fond of her, protective and so so so very guilty, but he cannot love her. Not when he knows his flowers are not meant for her.

"I know," she simply said. Tears shine in her eyes, but they refuse to fall. Instead there's a gentleness in her expression. A mixture of grief and fear. "Is she worth it?" She finally asked.

"He is," he replied. He thinks of the boy, no the man, who has chased him halfway through hell and back. Who fought side by side with him through war and changed the world. Who his soul has fought, over and over again, through countless lives before. Who never gave up on him, until he had been strong enough to beat Sasuke, and calm the anger in his heart.

He would have loved no one else, but him.

He doesn't hear Sakura's panick, as the coughing rises. As he coughs up pink blossoms, whole if a bit crushed, and tries desperately not to choke. Sakura maintains chakra on his lungs, scanning him before she presses a canteen of water to his lips when the coughing fit is over.

"Arbutus," he said after taking long gulps.

"What do they mean?" Sakura asked as she tries to heal what damage to his throat she could.

"I will love only you," he said gently.

"Let me... let me help you get home, Sasuke-kun." There is strength in her voice. A conviction, laced with grief and acceptance. 

\--------------

_Jonquil_

Sasuke wonders how he should go about confessing. He thinks of how much time he has left, and what he could do. Naruto wouldn't be the kind to simply fall in love in a matter of days. He would either already be in love and not know it, or he isn't. It's just a matter of figuring it out, and knowing what he should do. 

He decides to spend a bit more time with the idiot. If nothing else, he'd be able to have a couple of good memories. Maybe even make it up to the man who he has never acknowledged. Now all that's left is looking for him.

He spends most of the early morning wandering the winding streets of the city. He sees mothers bustling about the farmers market. Some houses have the scent of food drifting out open windows. He hears children being roused and fathers leaving for jobs. On the roofs he sees shinobi bustling about, a lot of people headed either to the training grounds or to receive the days missions.

It was peaceful. It was a side of the village he had never allowed himself to enjoy before. The subtle happiness that he had been envious and resentful of. A quiet, peaceful sort of calm that left him feeling content. The battle has been won and his quest is done. He has uncovered the truths and he has found his answers. He is calm now, in a way he never was. He is okay with whatever may happen from here on out.

And then his eyes hone in on a speck of orange. He sees Naruto long before the blonde notices him, but that's to be expected given Naruto's coloring. He hastens his pace, falling into step with the blonde who seems to be headed to one of the training grounds.

"Sasuke!" His eyes light up when he sees him, grinning brightly. "Where are you headed bastard?"

"I was walking around," he admits quietly. "The village is.. peaceful." Something in the blonde's eyes soften, and Sasuke realized that maybe Naruto has been seeing this all the while.

"It's nice isn't it?" He asked smiling softly, looking around. "This.., this is why I want to be kage. I want to protect this. With all my heart." Something in Sasuke's chest aches with that smile. He wants that aimed at him too, he realized.

He cursed where his mind turns to moments later, feeling the hacking cough build up even before it starts. He rushes somewhere more discreet, hands to his mouth as tries not to call attention to himself. He doesn't even notice Naruto, who had apparently gone after him. Not when he finally reached one of the training grounds, and he doubles over coughing. 

When the rush of flowers finally subsides, he starts noticing the world around him. He just now realizes that Kakashi has joined them somewhere along the way. He hadn't even sensed the man, which wasn't much of a surprise given how much his coughing takes out of him. He absently notes specks of blood on some of them, and wonders when he'd need to be confined to a hospital.

"Teme, you really should make a move on whoever you fell in love with," Naruto said, eyes scrunched with worry. Kakashi is looking at him with critical eyes that makes him wonder what the man sees.

"It seems we'd have to postpone our training session, Naruto," Kakashi decided. "We should probably bring Sasuke home and get Sakura to check up on him."

"But you'd be out of the village soon," Naruto whines. Still he dutifully pulls Sasuke's shaking arm over his shoulder and hauls him up. Kakashi grabs his other arm.

"We'll have plenty of time later," Kakashi pacifies. He's still looking at Sasuke like he's waiting for something. "I'll still treat you to dinner next time. I'll be back before you know it." Which... oh. That's why.

Sasuke lifts a shaky head towards Naruto, whose eyes brighten immediately at the promise, and something cold settles in his chest.

"Ne bastard, what flowers were those?" Naruto decides to ask then.

"Jonquils," Sasuke replied numbly. "They mean.., please love me back."

\---------------

_Cyclamen_

"Will you tell him?" Sasuke had noticed the man slipping in a while ago, but he hadn't expected the question. He hadn't expected the usually unconfrontational jounin to ask him about it.

"He'd be guilty," Sasuke admits. "He.., he will blame himself for the rest of his life. He doesn't deserve that. Neither do you." And the truth of the matter is, Naruto was stubborn. He would love with all he had, and that was that. For all their differences, they were just as pigheaded. He may love Naruto with all his heart, but the jinchuuriki would never see him as anything more than a brother. It would just make him feel worse, knowing he would never love Sasuke back. 

"I cannot lie to him," Kakashi said after a moment of silence. "I won't tell him now. Not with you here, but I cannot lie to him for the rest of our lives."

"Take care of him for me," Sasuke asked quietly instead.

"I have always been," Kakashi replied and Sasuke realized how true that is. Because at the end of the day, Sasuke had left. Sasuke had walked away from the blonde, leaving him behind for Kakashi to take care of.

"I know I don't have the right, to love him the way I do. I know I forfeited that right, when I walked away from him all those years ago," he said softly. "So thank you, Kakashi. For loving him when I cannot. Thank you for making him happy."

He had thought, a while ago, that he would cough up yellow hyacinths if he found out Naruto was with someone. But there is no jealousy here. There is no ill will or hatred. Instead, he coughs up cyclamen, red as his eyes and the blood that comes with them.

There is no envy to be had here. Simply resignation, and acceptance. It does nothing to stop the hurt however, when the hacking cough stops and Kakashi decides to finally speak. "He did love you, you know. A long long time ago, before you knew what love meant."

\-----------------

_Primrose_

Sasuke sees them gathered around the hospital bed. He doesn't need Tsunade to tell him what he feels. What he already knows. He is dying. He doesn't have much left. One last cough, one last flower before he chokes and nature claims him.

He finds himself strangely at ease. Naruto will be taken care of. Sakura will have finally moved on. He will be seeing his family soon and with him, the Uchiha curse of hatred dies. He has made so many mistakes, has carried with him the grief of his clan and now, it is time to lay them to rest. With him, the shadow of the past might finally be forgotten. With him, the cursed eyes of Indra might finally be cleansed.

There are tears in his teammates eyes. Sakura is pale and shaking. Tears actively stream down Naruto's eyes and Kakashi looks at him with understanding. With conviction and reassurance. It makes him smile.

"What are you smiling at, Teme?" Naruto has always been a messy crier. He is just as alive with grief as he is with joy.

"I won't be dying with regrets. It's enough," he rasped out quietly. It's getting harder to talk.

"I still can't believe you didn't at least confess teme," Naruto argues back and he laughs even more. Kakashi is looking at him pleadingly, and he decides maybe he owes the blonde that at least.

"I probably should." Sasuke agrees, laughing quietly. To his side, the tears Sakura had been holding in finally falls.

When it comes, he is prepared. He coughs and coughs, wet and hacking and he chokes every time his chest siezed. This time there is a single flower, stem and leaves and all. How oddly fitting, Sasuke thinks, and he has just enough energy to take the blood stained primrose and present it to the person he had loved.

'I cannot live without you.'

**Author's Note:**

> Flower list:
> 
> Daffodils: Unequalled Love, You're the Only One, The Sun is Always Shining When I'm with You  
> Red Carnations: Falling in Love  
> Yellow Tulips: There's sunshine in your smile  
> Arbutus: I will only love you  
> Jonquil: Please love me back  
> Cyclamen: Resignation and goodbyes  
> Primrose: I cannot live without you
> 
> I'm going to be honest. A huge motivation for this was the fact that Hanahaki fics seem to have become formula. Grief, unrequited love, angst and reluctance to confess, last minute confession, happy ever after.
> 
> So this is my take on it. Where no one got the fairy tale ending. But, well they're people and they learn to grow up and move on. 
> 
> Alsooo, I realized while writing, that having the Hanahaki would bring a new level to the horror of acquiring the Mangekyou. A part of me kind of wants to write other past Uchiha and their dealings with falling in love.
> 
> That said, I hope you enjoyed.


End file.
